Preamp question.

[ryanformato]

Hi,
Right now my preamps are the following:

1 Great River 1ME-NV channel
Stereo Toft 2-ATC
EMU-1820-M (2 TF-pro preamps)
Behringer ADA-8000 (8 preamps)

I at most record 8 channels at once (because of drums) and am using the great river and the toft for my kick and snare top /bottom I then put the toms and overheads into the behringer ada8000.

I think the pre's on the toft are good, but am not so sure about the ada8000. Would I be better off sacrificing the toft and the ada8000 to buy something like the Presonus digimax or the focusrite octopre so I can get 8 quality pre's? I am not really sure how much better they actually are though.

I really don't use the EQ or the compressor on the toft because I pretty much stay in the box so the unit has become essentially 2 pre's for me. Thanks for your thoughts. I have 8 actual in's on my soundcard so would I be better off selling the Toft and getting something like sebatron or sytek, or another boutique preamp? My budget for the new pre's would essentially be whatever I got from selling the Toft and maybe a few hundred MAX.

-Ryan

 

[Rodger Hartlett]

sell the TOFT and Great River 1 channel and buy TWO Great River 2 Channels for four channels total.if youwanna have fun and you can afford it burn or trash the TOFT.try submerging it in water it may improve the sound.

 

[SonicAlbert]

Two Great River 2ME-NV's is so far beyond Ryan's budget that it's not funny, even after selling all his current preamps.

Ryan, on eBay you could probably get around $750 for the Toft and $175 for the ADA8000, for a total of $925. That would get you the four channel Sytek and basically be an even trade since you can buy the sytek for $889 direct.

Then, if you have a few hundred more to spend you could add a couple Rane MS-1b's or an Aphex 207. That would bring you up to 9 preamps, including those in your Emu soundcard. I think that would be an upgrade over your present setup because you would be getting rid of the Behringer unit.